Here people give their mobile phone numbers out to everyone. In fact, there’s no general awareness of anybody paying for the call. This has been discussed to death but US has plenty of “caller-pays” systems – it’s just called “Free incoming calls” and is fairly common on business accounts or as an extra. There is no system in place for you to charge somebody for calling your # without applying the elaborate 900 number model.
I see no danger in giving my number out to anyone I might want to be able to contact me. I only pay if I answer the phone, so I can just look to see who’s calling before I decide whether to do so.
Another way to think about it is that the concept of “who pays” isn’t really what’s important. What’s important is “is this a decent service for the money I pay.” If I only paid for outgoing calls, but my plan had half as many minutes, the outcome would be pretty much the same. In fact, a system like that could easily be much less efficient, because I might have some months where I make a lot of calls and some where I receive a lot of calls, and there’s time wasted in figuring out who has more minutes left, or a better rate, or silly things like that.
For myself and my Wife, where we live the coverage is spotty. And I guess it’s analog because to leave your phone on, burns the battery down really fast.
(maybe someone can give me a heads up about that) At our house we can use our cell phones, but just barely. If you are lucky enough to get two bars, you still can’t move or you lose the signal. Turning your head can drop a call.
Same with the drive to work. I’ve thought about getting an external antenna. But that requires repeater equipment and such. Land line works just fine.
And, to me, it’s like talking on a radio. With regular land lines, both people can talk at once. Not so with our service. I always feel like saying ‘Over’ (I’m done with this sentence.)
Also, I don’t like the phone to ring if I am in my car or out and about. If someone was in dire straights, and needed to be able to contact me at a moments notice, sure I would leave it on.
My Wife and I will be dropping down to Denver this weekend. Because of circumstances we will be taking separate cars (I have to work Friday). So, we will both have our phones on. Works well for that kind of stuff. No need to give out our numbers otherwise.
Wait a minute . . . does this mean that you, the caller (in Europe), pay a different rate depending on whether you call a mobile phone or a land line?
Here in the US, the rate the caller pays is the same whether a mobile or a land line is called.
That’s the way it is here (Aus.) Calling a mobile phone is normally more expensive than a landline. But all mobile phone numbers are easily recognisable. If you don’t want to call a mobile, you don’t.
As mentioned, the system in the USA both for landline and mobile is meant to make the telephone usage rate for so-called basic local service “invisible” to the users unlesss you either use a LOT of line/air time, or make long-distance calls (BTW, in the case of long-distance, the originator DOES pay the long-distance tolls), or use special services not included in your base package. That’s achieved by bundling it into the base monthly rate. And the public seems to take to it quite well. My mobile rate is $37.99 (plus some $11 or so in taxes and extra fixed fees) per month, and I can call to/from anywhere in the US at local rates. In 3 years I have not ONCE exhausted the limit on my “minutes”, or (except for the two trips to Halifax and Quebec, where roaming fees kicked in) paid a cent above the monthly base rate no matter how many calls I made or received. And my plan even has “carry-over minutes” meaning my unused quota adds up over the following months (up to a point, naturally). (Of course, I may be an anomalous case [or maybe am just showing my age and non-executive status] in that I do NOT use over a thousand minutes of peak-time airtime in any month)
In my case, this works just fine, because I am in a position wherein I can afford to not care that I’ve “wasted” unspent airtime minutes, in exchange for convenience and predictability. I DID have a problem with my previous service, which was an older contract that indeed required me to pay as I went, and often ended up with me paying twice what I do now. So now rather than altenate between $40, $60 and $80 phone bills, plus roaming out of town, now I know I have a $48 bill and it includes all the airtime** I** need anywhere in the USA. To me, that’s a better deal.
Just to reinterate what 1920’s said, you can easily tell the difference between a mobile and landline number.
US: Same format for both landline and mobile (cell) numbers (616) 555-1212
Australia: Different format for landline and mobile numbers: (02) 9000 0000 for landline vs 0400 000 000 for mobile. (or 03 for Victoria in blinking’s case.)
US: Flat rate for local calls from landlines to any number.
Australia: Flat rate plus per call charges from landlines to local numbers, calls to mobile phones are (usually) more expensive. (And don’t start me on Telstra’s line rental, please. Ugh!)
US: User pays for all incoming and outgoing cell calls
Australia: Caller pays for calls to mobile phone, user pays for outgoing calls. User pays for outgoing text messages. Incoming text messages are not charged.
ETA: As in the US, Australia does have mobile plans with a certain number of minutes and/or text messages per month included, and also flat rate with no minutes/text messages included where you pay by the minute for them. Most popular (here) would be capped plans, where you pay X dollars for X+Y dollars. (Pay $100 per month for $500 worth of calls/SMS if you were paying by the minute.) This is if you have a plan at all and don’t simply pay as you go with credit on your phone.
That help?
Cheers,
G